Bride Allegedly Used Company Credit Cards To Bank Roll Wedding

La’Reese Darville, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., was arrested Monday on fraud and grand theft charges after the cops accused her of using her company’s credit cards to pay for most of her wedding costs, The Palm Beach Post reports.

After she was released from the St. Lucie County Jail on $,7,500 bail, Darville told The Post that the arrest stemmed from a big misunderstanding. She told the newspaper that the charges were made with the permission of her father, Leroy Felix, a part-owner of her employer, Partners III Pawn Shop.

Derville claims Felix gave her a credit card number connected to the business to pay for the wedding.

“It’s been said, or worded, that the card was stolen,” Darville said. “I called. He gave me the number and (said) ‘use it’. I used it and it was being paid back, so I have no idea what the whole big deal is about, but (certainly) it was a huge mix-up.”

But that doesn’t seem to be the case. On Nov. 17, the cops were called to the pawn shop over questionable charges made to company credit cards. Here are some more details on the case:

They spoke with two other owners, Keith Angelotti and Scott Matthews. Angelotti and Matthews said Darville, their operations manager, takes care of their finances. The three owners have individual Bank of America credit cards for the company’s account, and Matthews is the primary name on the account.

On Nov. 12, the bank called Matthews to say he was late on making payments. He found out the card was overdrawn about $10,000. He also discovered that Felix’s card was charged about $10,000 and Angelotti’s card was charged about $28,000.

The charges were from wedding vendors — such as photographers and planners — and for renting the casino. Police said Matthews asked Felix about the transactions, and Felix said he didn’t know anything about it.

Matthews and Angelotti spoke with Darville, a store employee for about eight years. She acknowledged using the cards for her wedding but blamed it on her father. She said she never told him about the $10,000, but he told her one time she could use Angelotti’s card.

Darville said she recently left the company and is now a stay-at-home mother.

When Darville spoke to the cops Monday, she admitted to using a company credit card 14 times to pay for wedding expenses, but told them she intended on repaying the business in full. Police did say she had permission to use her father’s credit card, but did not have permission to charge $39,286.24 to the company’s account. While Darville said she has repaid $17,161.49, she was not able to produce a record of it.

“I just can’t imagine what was going through her brain that day,” said Sara Kauss, a Jupiter-based photographer, who said she enjoyed meeting the Darvilles and working the wedding. “She should have worked hard and saved up and then planned this wedding.”

Based on photos from the wedding that took place at the Rock Cafe in Hollywood, at least she and her new husband, Darelle, apparently had a blast–just not on their own dime, that is.